2008Released
3:46

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Paper Planes - Diplo Street Remix. By Songfacts®.

In this song, M.I.A. plays up the stereotype of a menacing illegal immigrant, forging documents and threatening violence. It was inspired by her efforts to enter America on a visa (she is a British citizen of Sri Lankan descent), which resulted in a months-long bureaucratic morass, something she attributed to her dark skin and exotic real name: Mathangi Arulpragasam.

M.I.A. composed this song with the DJ/producer Diplo (Wesley Pentz), who was little known at the time. "Paper Planes" was the first hit song he worked on; a few years later he was on the charts with a number of productions, including Chris Brown's "Look at Me Now" and his Tiesto collaboration, "C'Mon (Catch 'Em By Surprise)." M.I.A. and Diplo were a couple from roughly 2003-2008.

Musically, the song is built on a sample of the 1982 Clash song "Straight To Hell," which also deals with immigration and xenophobia. The sample was Diplo's idea.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Paper Planes - Diplo Street Remix.
DKey
MajorMode
4/4Time Signature
172BPM

Album

The album Paper Planes - Diplo Street Remix is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Paper Planes - Diplo Street Remix.
XL Recordings
2008 XL Recordings Ltd
2008 XL Recordings Ltd

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